


Forget me not

by Yougaythen



Category: Ballum, EastEnders
Genre: Boarding School AU, M/M, Or at least young enough to still be in school, The boarding school au that no one asked for, based on the picture of max on the army uniform because he looks like a child
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-24
Updated: 2020-06-25
Packaged: 2021-03-04 05:27:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,507
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24898414
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Yougaythen/pseuds/Yougaythen
Summary: When Ben returns to school after the summer he’s met with the shock of having a roommate, when they start on not great terms it’s up to Ben to make things better
Relationships: Ballum - Relationship
Comments: 3
Kudos: 22





	1. Secret garden

**Author's Note:**

> This is only a very short fic, potentially only 2-3 parts which I’ll post separately, it didn’t feel right writing it as one long fic. Hope you enjoy x

This September was always going to be special for Ben, his last official year of being a student was upon him, he knew he had to make this count if he really wanted to get into the top university, dragging his suitcase behind him, mum trailing on behind he headed to his living accommodation for the year. The building was huge, hundreds of tiny windows each encapsulated a class room or bedroom, this wasn’t new to Ben, being here the previous four years moving in midterm during the first year posed its battles but he soon earned enough respect from the teachers while continuing to cause trouble wherever possible. 

“Good news Ben, you’re not spending this school year alone, you will still be in the room you have been but that spare bed will be accompanied this year. You will also be required to mentor him through this year” the principal stopped him as he walked through the door “But that’s not possible, this is my make or break year I don’t need someone on top of me all the time” he returns carrying on walking to his room, swinging open the door and falling down upon the bed “I can’t have someone else living in here with me mum, everything is just right and they will come along and disturb everything” “It will be alright sweetie they will be fine give you a chance to actually make a friend, now I have to go get back to that nephew of yours but call me if you need anything yeah, I’ll be straight here” she called leaving the room for her car. 

Sitting there a while Ben had chance to think, of all the times he’d spent a quiet night alone, tears down his face splashing onto whatever piece of work was in his lap, no one saw this side of him, the fragile innocent side the way that one wrong word and he’d be shutting down. He was always the positive one, strolling into early morning class in that uniform he hated and in almost a changed person for afternoon classes. He’d forgotten the sound of silence, no people rushing around him talking at a million miles an hour, a hundred different arguments and the drama, it was peaceful, tranquil. Allowing himself to fall back upon the bed and his eyes to close. 

The sound of a knock on the door pulling him from his haze darting upwards and letting his hair run through his fingers. “Ah, Mr Mitchell I’m so glad to see you’ve not unpacked this is Mr Highway, your roommate and buddy for the coming year, you two share classes and the time table is identical for both of you, Mr Mitchell when you get a chance can you please show me Highway around this place” he says, dropping him at the door and leaving. “Ben” “Callum” “Wow you really don’t look like a private boarding school person, how did you end up here” “Oh thanks, casual moving in look, could have made an effort if I tried, so what do we do now?”Callum questions “May I” he continues gesturing towards bens bed “Look Callum I’m just here to get through this year and then I’m off to make something of my life, your just another passing person, this is my side of the room and I guess that’s yours, make yourself comfortable while I’m gone” “What? Where are you going” “Out”

Heading towards the so called secret garden right behind the football fields, the only person Ben had ever seen here other than himself was a young girl, Mae, a first year a few years back, they sat on the old bench there and talked for hours resulting in Ben only just making it back to his room to change before morning classes started and the quick exchange of numbers had them meeting up whenever they had an issue, it was their special place, the place where the water from the river broke the silence and the flowers were beautiful, something to hold. He knew she hadn’t checked in yet, not needing to because she didn’t live on campus so the check in date for her was a week away.  
Placing himself down on the bench pulling his top out and over his legs he made himself as small as possible, shirt corners falling between the cracks in the bench, he could do this, but what if he couldn’t, what if Callum became too much for him to handle along with school work, and there came those tears, falling upon the dark grey material. 

He sat there for a while, letting the emotions take him wherever they wanted, reaching down for his pocket for his phone to ring his mum she’d know how to sort this, it was only at that moment he realised he had left it back in his room, sighing he got up, dried his eyes hoping the sun would dry the stains on his top before he got back to his room, and picking a couple flowers to put in there, give it a bit of colour, Mae would know the names he’s sure of it. 

Arriving back at his room, or their room, he put the flowers into a little glass jar on his desk, realising he’d barely unpacked anything “Your done then” he asks tapping Callum on the leg “Yeah all done, have you been crying your eyes are really red” “What no of course I haven’t, just hayfever I’ll take something for it and I’ll be fine” “This doesn’t have to be awkward you know, I’m sorry that I had to be the one who ended up breaking your alone space but we can work this out, we’ve barely spoken to each other since principal left and what we did you didn’t sound happy” Callum says guilt in his eyes “Just leave it alright you don’t know what’s happening and it doesn’t really matter either, classes start in just over a week and you’ll soon realise how unimportant and how uninteresting I am and find yourself some other friends, I’m sorry but you weren’t in the plans for this year and if I fail this year because of all this I might just quit now” he’s saying “But I thought you were like top student or something, that’s what they told me, and of course you are important, now tell me why were you crying Ben” “Fine go lock the door and then come sit here” patting the end of his bed, himself shuffling up taking a pillow from behind himself and holding it in his arms. 

They sit for a while just looking at each other, “My dad-” Ben speaks up, voice just above a whisper “-he came into some money when I was about 10, he gave some to my mum and told her it was for me to come here and a bit to get herself a house with and then he left, changed his number and disappeared, sent a letter here a couple years later telling me that I’d never have been enough for him so it was the best thing to do, was to leave us alone, start our own lives without him. I started getting destructive here, messing things up getting in trouble, but they never did much, blamed it on the fact he was so horrible to us, mum doesn’t cope much when I’m not at home, says she loves when the holidays come round and I get to be at home again, my nephew, he starts secondary on Monday, she’ll be at home for the first time all alone, she works but it’s not the same, she home schooled him for a while, needing the company but he needed a life too. I guess everything just got too much, you, mum, the fact it’s my last year here. I went somewhere that no one else on campus knows about, that’s where I got the flowers, perhaps we could go there together one day” he’s not crying but he feels like he could, eyes going glassy and cloudy “I’d like that a lot, how about you ring your mum, check she’s okay and if you don’t want me to be here I’ll go downstairs find my way somewhere” “I’ll ring her later, thank you, I’m sorry I complained about you your pretty sweet actually, maybe we will get along, want to help me unpack?” He questions. 

They spend the rest of the afternoon unpacking bens things, finding they weren’t too dissimilar, Ben ending up cooking the night time meal, showing Callum the way to the kitchen. They talked the entire time, learning things about each other and at the end of the day they both fell into their separate beds and were asleep instantly, maybe the year wouldn’t be as bad as Ben originally thought, he had a on campus friend now, one he could share things with, laugh and cry with and that’s all he needed.


	2. Flowers

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The year that led ahead for them after a certain night out under the stars

The weeks that followed were some of Ben’s happiest, Callum following him around constantly confused, he hadn’t quite got the timings down for the fact that after first class has been let out that’s when they are supposed to go change out of their uniforms, thinking that Ben was breaking the rules. There had been introductions to Mae and her extensive knowledge of flowers making them both fall asleep and over that time they had gotten so close, drawing up a rota during first week allowing them to take blocks each to claim as theirs and do certain things in them. 

And after autumn holidays they were on the best terms, the secret garden still hadn’t been explored but their grades were both in the A boundaries, Ben realising that maybe being alone for all those years I was nice to have company. 

“What are you doing” Ben speaks up, Callum not even realising he was awake “going to get ready for class, it starts in like twenty minutes” “oh does it now, well I’m not going, I have other places to be that I thought you might want to join me in but if you want to go put that on and head to class alone please just pretend like you haven’t seen me” “where’s more important than his class then?” Callum questions, he’s not been late or skipped class since he got here “the flower garden, you know the place you’ve been begging me to take you, Mae says the last of the flowers are blooming so if we want to see it when it’s still magical we should go asap, so are you coming or not?” He questions “Well I guess so” “great please don’t wear that though I know there’s much nicer things in that wardrobe of yours” “and principals class? What are you doing about that” “get ready, we’ll stop by the kitchen for something to eat and then I’ll drop by tell him my mums coming so I can’t make it to class, you tell him she really wants to see you and issue solved, I’ve skipped this class many times before you know, heading down to the flowing water and the beauty in all those colours” 

After Callum got ready, Ben choosing his clothes so he was in a somewhat decent outfit, they headed down stopping at principles office and then heading down to the football fields, through the hedge and into the garden, Mae was right, the colours were beautiful, blues, pinks, reds and yellows scattered all over the floor, the leaves on the the outlining trees mixed with greens and yellows framing the magic. “Wow, it’s beautiful” Callum says “come on this isn’t it yet” bens replying, already walking away “the river is most beautiful, it’s crystal clear in the stretch that's here Mae does work on it and cleaned it all up and now it’s like something from a far away place, the rest of the river isn’t as clean but she knows how to look after it” they head back to the bench, sitting down and taking in their surroundings. “Tell me about your family” Callum speaks up, twirling a flower between his fingers. “Well there’s my mum and my nephew and my dad, no one knows this around here but I’ll tell you as long as you don’t tell anyone, dads always been the trouble type, arrested more times that you could imagine, stealing things and a night in a cell was nothing to him, I found his address when I was 12, sent him a letter first, I came out to him before mum, told him I liked boys and how I wanted to prove I was enough for him. I didn’t expect one back, but he did he told me how I wouldn’t be enough and that’s why he left, leaving me here. I met Mae the year after and she was like a Princess, she looked nothing like she does now, these gorgeous flowing summer dresses and a smile that could light the sky, she encouraged me to go home, take leave for a few days or until I was ready to come back. I went home and told mum that I liked boys and she was just so loving, taking me into her arms and holding, holding until we were ready to talk and she was the opposite of dad, I came back and fell into my ways, making a mess of things as usual and Mae became my only constant, she doesn’t live on campus though so many nights when I could have done with a trip down here with her were instead replaced by tearful nights crying into whatever textbook was in front of me, until exhaustion hit and I’d be out until the morning. I tried to push my feelings away the weakness being too much to handle and yet here I am, about to turn 18 and still not fallen in love” 

“I’m sorry Ben I didn’t know that, if it’s any consolation my mum put me here because I kept getting distracted by the boys, putting my relationship first with him and failing all my classes, she thought a fresh start here did get my grades for uni and everything would be okay, but I guess I’ve fallen into your path now and don’t get me wrong your beautiful, but mum would go crazy if I fell into another relationship, but stay here please, I don’t care if we get in trouble for missing second class I need to just go ring someone for you” “who” “you’ll see” 

Walking out from behind the hedge to a place where he knew Ben couldn’t hear him he pulled out his phone and rang his dad, Callum might not have known the words to say to Ben but his dad absolutely would, heading back to the garden he found Ben head in his hands “what’s wrong?” Callum asks tilting his head up to look at him “you hate me don’t you, just like everyone else” “what! Of course I don’t Ben, I actually think I really like you, you know that feeling when you look at someone for the first time and your heart does that weird thing where it’s like jelly for a moment, well that’s how I feel about you, and I felt weird about it because I thought that maybe you and Mae were dating or were at some point and I couldn’t crush on my straight friend but I guess this clarifies. You know that first night when you fell asleep my dad messaged and told me to send a photo of you to him, I didn’t have one but I took the most adorable one on you asleep and my dad told me no matter what I needed to keep you in my life, I went to ring him Ben because I want him to show you what a dad is really like, just because yours messed up doesn’t mean you can’t accept mine and what he has to say, and after I’d like to meet your mum, finally see her in person because she’s done amazingly raising you Ben. She loves you for who you are and you need to cherish that. When my dad gets here you two are going to go up to our room, talk for a bit and I’m meeting Mae here over lunchtime to sort some things” Callum explains taking bens hand into his own and rubbing it gently, the notification from his dad breaking them apart “what about classes” Ben questions “I sorted them this morning, now let’s go find my dad” he said getting up and walking Ben trailing on behind him. 

After introductions they took Callum’s dad up to their room leaving him with Ben callum went back to the garden, Mae already there holding a small posy of flowers and a strip of fairy lights, “so-” she started “Mae thank you so much” “- next time give me warning yeah? So the flowers you need to pick are the tiny blue ones, not too many though because we need them to seed again for next year, I’ve put a little basket of all ben's favourite things down by the waters edge with a little blanket, come down here at about 8:30 and then it will be perfect for sunset into the starry sky, sleep down here if you want to, no one will check because they don’t know it’s here, and remember to be confident in what you are saying to him, sometimes he’s hard to crack into but you can do this, who knows you might be with him for the cutest winter romance ever” she says, falling down onto the bench next to him. 

By the time night time came around, Callum had convinced Ben to put on something warm, hoping to spend the night together, and not eat anything because they were going for food with Mae, heading down to the garden, Ben was told to close his eyes, guided only by Callum’s soft touch, what sat before them was maybe a bit prettier than the flowers, or so callum thought, a small rug outlined by Mae’s fairy lights, the basket at the bottom and hidden away under the bench was the warmth of some blankets if they did decide to sleep outside, “open your eyes” Callum’s calling out to Ben stepping aside for him to fully take in around him “you did this?” “Of course I did, come sit down” “I love it”

They sat for a while, chattering away about how this had come to happen, chill loosely in the air, nibbling bits of food from the basket Mae really did pick out all the best things, “I uh actually wanted to ask you something, I just wondered if you maybe wanted to be my boyfriend” fear washing over his face “I’d love that” Ben returns, he’s not sure what over took his body but there was a really strong pull, gravitating him to Callum until their lips collided and everything around them was gone, Ben had never felt like this, never wanting it to stop, pulling away momentarily and then straight back. “Wow” he breathes, falling away from Callum “I want to give you these, Mae says it means true love or something but I want you to have it” he says pulling the two blue flowers from beside him, they were tiny, just like them in that very moment. 

The weeks and months that followed were full of love, meetings of family and acceptance, acceptance into each other’s lives and although Ben might not have gotten top uni he may have had more important things in his life, the winter was cold, hands were constantly being held and sharing clothes became normal, they took many dates outside campus, mostly arranged by Mae and by the time spring term came around Callum got to experience the garden in full bloom, the beauty of the tranquil area, back in their room things started to empty, only exams left to undertake and they’d be saying goodbyes to part of their lives, they weren’t splitting though, both somehow securing a job on campus allowing them to save enough for a tiny apartment on the outskirts of town. Summer brought its own sadness, the goodbyes to the place that so many memories were held, so many firsts for both of them. Mae on their last day vowing to never forget the garden, and that they could visit at any time they wanted. 

They may have started the year as two separate individuals but something about walking out through the gates into freedom, hand in hand made everything worth it, Mae gifted them a shoot of forget me not, them choosing to plant it in the garden of their apartment, never forgetting Mae or their love for each other, a flower binding them together for life.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I loved writing this, something a little different from my usual, it did only end up being two chapters but I think that was all it needed. Thank you for reading

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading, next part will be up within the next few days, kudos and comments are appreciated.


End file.
